Food quality and safety situation in Turkey: governance and barriers to success

The institutional environment for food quality and safety in Turkey is rapidly changing in the last decade
but there are still some inconsistencies compared with the EU. High costs of establishing quality assurance systems
(QAS), inefficient capacity of the institutional frame, unknown consumer attitudes, low level of production
techniques and lack of awareness of producers and consumers are important weaknesses, when evaluating the current
food quality and safety situation in Turkey. Whereas, rapid development of QAS, increase in consumer demands,
harmonisation of legislation with the EU, increase in the research and incentives for quality production, and
production potentials were determined as strong points. When analysing the socio-economic situation of farms,
producers’ knowledge, perception and interest in quality with Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), it is found that
producers did not accumulate capital because of the low profits, a handicap for expanding and investing into
production and product quality. Moreover, the producers' knowledge is limited and their quality perception mainly
focuses on food safety. As a result, academic studies and research projects needs to be extended and the adaptation of
the Turkish legislation with the EU should be completed accordingly.